TexMessage: Former Texas Death Row inmate Anthony Graves is honored in Washington
TEXMESSAGE
Wednesday, September 14
Good morning, TexMessagers. Have you been vaccinated to protect yourself from Michele Bachmann? Has Rick Perry?
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TEXclusive
A year ago, Anthony Graves was languishing in prison, awaiting a retrial after 12 years on Texas Death Row (and 18 years behind bars) for a crime he didn’t commit. But last night he was honored by the American Bar Association at a ceremony featuring retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens that took place just one block from the White House.Graves, who was cleared by a special prosecutor years after his original murder conviction was overturned due to prosecutorial misconduct, warned the high-powered audience of attorneys that he was not the only innocent man on Texas Death Row.
“Guys are down there right now and they are going to get executed,” said Graves, who now works as a mitigation specialist for the Texas Defender Service. “And guess what? Some of them are innocent.”
Anthony Graves was honored by the ABA's Death Penalty Representation Project (Billy Smith II/Houston Chronicle)
During his nearly two-decade nightmare in the Texas justice system, Graves, who twice received execution dates, said he was the victim of “egregious misconduct” by Burleson County prosecutors. “I’ve been exposed to the underbelly of the beast,” he said.
He thanked lawyers who volunteer to defend others accused of capital crimes and urged his prominent audience, “Please, get involved.”
Earlier, John Paul Stevens told a funny story about Graves. Stevens was in Houston to deliver a speech last October and was scheduled to be interviewed by the Houston Chronicle. But he said the reporter called him at the last minute to cancel the interview because, as Stevens recalled, “something much more important” had happened. That important event: Graves was exonerated and freed.
“Maybe the reporter had correct priorities,” Stevens laughed.
